Number of Students Studying Online

Online learning provides a great deal of convenience for learners who would like to further their education but who prefer an off-campus to an on-campus setting. As a result, an increasing number of Australian universities are offering online courses, which are being taking advantage of by a large number of students.

In terms of distance education student numbers, Charles Sturt University (CSU) has the highest number of online students at around 22,000 students. A slightly distant second is the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) with around 17,000 online students. Third on the list is University of New England (UNE) with around 16,000 distance education students.

Postgraduate students apparently have a greater preference for distance education, likely because of existing work and other commitments. At the postgraduate level, the same three universities stand out when considering the percentage of online students. It is significant that the top three universities for online postgraduate student numbers all have over 80% of their postgraduate students studying via this mode. UNE, USQ, and CSU all have well-developed graduate schools operating to a great extent as primarily distance education providers.

NOTE: Click the column headers to sort the table

Table 1: Distance Education Student Numbers

University

ug

pg

total

Charles Sturt University (csu)

13842

9125

22967

University of Southern Queensland (usq)

11356

5928

17284

University of New England (une)

10126

5674

15800

Deakin University (deakin)

5041

7298

12339

CQ University (cqu)

7274

1698

8972

Swinburne University of Technology (swinburne)

6895

814

7709

Curtin University (curtin)

4504

2429

6933

University of Tasmania (utas)

4035

2075

6110

University of South Australia (unisa)

3184

2747

5931

Monash University (monash)

1726

4130

5856

Charles Darwin University (cdu)

3975

1507

5482

Southern Cross University (scu)

3810

1245

5055

Edith Cowan University (ecu)

2765

2066

4831

University of Newcastle (newcastle)

638

4052

4690

Queensland University of Technology (qut)

911

2695

3606

Macquarie University (mq)

1772

1506

3278

Murdoch University (murdoch)

1958

1261

3219

Flinders University (flinders)

238

2957

3195

Griffith University (griffith)

596

1808

2404

University of New South Wales (unsw)

41

1955

1996

Australian Catholic University (acu)

631

1272

1903

James Cook University (jcu)

744

1009

1753

University of Sydney (sydney)

89

1504

1593

University of Queensland (uq)

308

1278

1586

La Trobe University (latrobe)

315

1127

1442

University of Wollongong (uow)

5

1204

1209

University of Western Sydney (uws)

452

632

1084

RMIT University (rmit)

133

912

1045

University of Melbourne (unimelb)

11

703

714

University of Technology Sydney (uts)

188

440

628

University of Adelaide (adelaide)

8

419

427

Australian National University (anu)

0

315

315

Victoria University (vu)

279

23

302

University of the Sunshine Coast (usc)

0

99

99

University of Western Australia (uwa)

0

84

84

Federation University (feduni)

47

34

81

University of Notre Dame (nd)

13

9

22

University of Canberra (canberra)

0

0

0

Bond University (bond)

0

0

0

Totals:

93346

82324

175670

NOTE: Click the column headers to sort the table

Table 2: Percentage Breakdown of Online Student Numbers

University

ug%

pg%

total%

University of New England (une)

75

88.1

79.2

University of Southern Queensland (usq)

66.2

86.6

72

Charles Darwin University (cdu)

58.9

66.4

60.8

Charles Sturt University (csu)

51.7

81.8

60.5

CQ University (cqu)

59.2

37.2

53.3

Southern Cross University (scu)

34.9

55.2

38.4

Deakin University (deakin)

15.6

55.9

27.2

Swinburne University of Technology (swinburne)

27.6

12.9

24.7

University of Tasmania (utas)

19.7

38.1

23.5

Edith Cowan University (ecu)

14.4

34.5

19.2

University of South Australia (unisa)

13

36.8

18.6

Curtin University (curtin)

12.3

24.3

14.9

Flinders University (flinders)

1.7

35.1

14.5

University of Newcastle (newcastle)

2.7

44.4

14.2

Totals Average (mean) (%)

10.1

23.7

13.8

Murdoch University (murdoch)

10

31.9

13.7

Monash University (monash)

3.7

23.4

9.2

Macquarie University (mq)

6.7

13.3

8.7

James Cook University (jcu)

4.8

19.2

8.4

Queensland University of Technology (qut)

2.7

25.4

8.1

Australian Catholic University (acu)

3.2

23.4

7.6

Griffith University (griffith)

1.8

20.7

5.8

La Trobe University (latrobe)

1.2

14.2

4.3

University of Wollongong (uow)

0

13.7

4.1

University of New South Wales (unsw)

0.1

10.4

3.9

University of Queensland (uq)

0.9

10.2

3.3

University of Sydney (sydney)

0.3

7.4

3

University of Western Sydney (uws)

1.3

9.3

2.6

RMIT University (rmit)

0.3

8

1.8

University of Technology Sydney (uts)

0.8

3.5

1.7

University of Adelaide (adelaide)

0

5.8

1.7

Australian National University (anu)

0

3

1.5

University of Melbourne (unimelb)

0

2.6

1.4

Victoria University (vu)

1.3

0.5

1.1

University of the Sunshine Coast (usc)

0

7.9

1.1

Federation University (feduni)

0.6

0.8

0.7

University of Western Australia (uwa)

0

1.5

0.3

University of Notre Dame (nd)

0.1

0.7

0.2

University of Canberra (canberra)

0

0

0

Bond University (bond)

0

0

0

Key & Notes

* Total Percentages: - total percentages excludes students not enrolled in either undergraduate or postgraduate programs